Sunday, September 28, 2008

Well we had an interesting weekend. Saturday's Judge, William Bergem, had a strange ring procedure. Instead of setting our dogs up on the table lengthwise, as usual, he had all the cardigans set up on the table sideways. Most of the Cardigans were too long and had to stand with their butts scrunched up underneath them. Interesting way to look at a profile breed. Jill won the bred-by class, but got dumped in WB. Janet's lovely red bitch, Scout, went on to take BOB - skillfully handled by my good friend, Cheryl Mika.Today was a little better, we went reserve to a nice brindle bitch that we seem to trade WB and reserve with at the local shows. Heidi's 10 month old puppy, Rush, went BOB over 3 specials. Heidi was so flabbergasted when Judge Pat Laurans pointed at her that her face went red - it was too cute - Cheryl and I hung around to cheer her on in group where Rush got a serious look. All and all, we had a good time and got to visit with friends. One of our puppies from the last litter came for a visit and is coming on nicely. Turman (or Mugen, as his new family calls him) is a gawky 6 month old, but we will be taking a look at him in a few months. It would be really nice to have one of the puppies from that litter turn out.I am catching a ride with Cheryl to West Friendship, MD for the Chesapeake Cardigan Regional Specialty in 2 weeks. I don't have anything entered, but Lego is going up to check out a few girls that are interested in him. Since I missed the nationals this year, I am looking forward to the trip.Then Jill and I will head to Tri-star in Nashville to try our luck at getting those last 4 singles.See y'all.......

Friday, September 26, 2008

Whew - am I glad this week is over. I swear I had a full week of crazy criminals. I have been covered up with sentencing reports on weirdo sex offenders, murders and theives. Boy am I burned out - 23+ years of this crap. Can I make it to 30 years.....

Thank goodness for the dogs. I honestly don't know what I would do without them. Even though I gripe about the barking and the millions of hairballs around the house, they are pure love and joy. There is nothing like coming home after a bad day to this:

Now that is pure love. We call Jill and Star - the Girlfriends, guess you can see why. Oh and goofy Spike always squeezes in the picture.

Jill is entered in the Murfreesboro shows this weekend. This showsite is only 30 minutes away so we get to sleep at home again! She only needs 4 points to finish and , dare I say this, could be a champion if she wins both days. Hope I didn't just jinx us! See Y'all.........

Monday, September 15, 2008

We were off to the Chattanooga Shows over the weekend where Jill (Grangefield Lyberty Savanah) went WB on Saturday for 2 more points. She went on to win best bred by and took a 4th in the herding Bred By group. She showed really well on Sunday and we were moved to the front of the line. On the final go around - the little stinker shut down on me and we ended up with reserve. Can't complain - she has both her majors and only needs 4 points to finish. Hopefully she can pick them up in Murfreesboro. The weekend was tons of fun - Heidi and I bunked with Janet and had a great time laughing, shopping and we did manage to find a margarita or two to put away. No pictures to share yet... See Y'all....

Friday, September 12, 2008

Ray Stevens - Ahab The Arab lyrics

(intro: Arabian flute)

Let me tell you about Ahab the Arab
The sheik of the burning sand
He had emeralds and rubies just drippin' off 'a him
And a ring on every finger of his hand
He wore a big ol' turban wrapped around his head
And a scimitar by his side
And, every evenin', about midnight
He'd jump on his camel named Clyde, and ride

[Spoken] Silently through the night to the sultan's tent where he
would secretly meet up with Fatima of the Seven Veils,
swingingest grade "A" number one US choice dancer in
the sultan's whole harem, 'cause, heh, him and her had
a thing goin', you know, and they'd been carryin' on
for some time now behind the sultan's back and you
could hear him talk to his camel as he rode out across the
dunes, his voice would cut through the still night desert
air and he'd say (imitate Arabic speech and finish with "Sold! American)
which is Arabic for, "Stop, Clyde!" and Clyde'd say, (imitate camel
sound), which is camel for, "What the heck did he say anyway?"

Well, he brought that camel to a screechin' halt (verbal screeching sound)
In the rear of Fatima's tent
Jumped off Clyde, snuck around the corner
And into the tent he went.
There he saw Fatima layin' on a zebra skin rug
With
[Spoken in falsetto and possibly with female backups] "Rings on her fingers and
bells on her toes and a bone in her nose ho, ho."

[Spoken] There she was, friends, lyin' there in all her radiant
beauty, eating on a raisin, grape, apricot, pomegranate,
bowl of chittlin's, two bananas, three Hershey bars,
sipping on a RC co-cola listenin' to her transistor,
watchin' the Grand Ole Opry on the tube, readin' a Mad
magazine while she sung, "Does your chewing gum lose
it's flavor?" Yeah, Ahab walked up to her and he say,
(imitate Arabic speech), which is Arabic for "Let's twist
again like we did last summer, baby.!!" Ha, ha, ha!!
You know what I mean! Whew! She looked up at him from off the rug,
give him one of the sly looks,

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Got this e-mail this morning and thought is was an interesting contrast....

SCHOOL -- 1957 vs. 2007Scenario : Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.

2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario : Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.

2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.1957 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt (a whipping - not a beating - there is a difference).1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successfu l businessman.

2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario : Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.1957 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.

2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

On my first post I promised that I would tell some of the funniest stupid people stories I run across from time to time so I am designating this Stupid People Wednesday. For those of you who don't know, I have been an adult Probation/Parole Officer from 24 years. I am now working on 2nd the 3rd generations of the same families. I have had several offenders say - you had my Mom, Dad, sibling and even my Grandpa/Granny on probation. Somehow, that kind of statement is weird to me. If my Mom, Dad, brother, sister or Grandparent had been on probation, I don't think I would advertise it. But these "offenders" are actually proud of it and feel that the fact I supervised their family member on probation some years back gives us some sort of "connection". Weird, huh. Oh and the term "offender" is what the State of Tennessee says we are to call out probationers/parolees. I no longer carry a caseload. My job responsibilities are presentence investigations and classification reports. Presentences are done after an offender is found guilty of a felony and has a sentencing hearing set by the court. Classifications reports are done on those who plea and go straight to prison. I interview the offenders, the victims, etc and do a background check on the offender for the court. In other words, I dig up the dirt on them. I love it, and I am very good at. Anyways on to the stories...My all time favorite statement made by and offender is: "I am not guilty of the offense I committed". hmmmmm....I committed it, but I'm not guilty - The Judge loved that one!My Favorite - oops you got me story is: 2 guys are sneaking next door to the local recycling plant and stealing large spools of copper wire. They go back to the victim the next day and sell it back to him. The victim, of course, recognizes the copper wire. The police are called and come to investigate. Now I should tell you that it snowed the night before. So the investigators go out back, find where the idiots cut through the fence and, you guessed it, follow their foot prints in the snow right to their backdoor. Surprisingly....these two went to prison..... wonder why....More stories to come....see ya'll

Sunday, September 7, 2008

I wake every morning to a beautiful display of purple morning glorys entwined with the small delicate red flowers of the humming bird vine. Just had to snap a few pictures to share....

Then we were off to the Titan's game. We are season ticket holders and huge football fans. Rick could not go today so I was able to take a co-worker for her first live football game. A great game but it was extremely hot. We saw way too much exposed flesh that really needed to be covered. I mean honestly, I think some people must not own a mirror. Anyway - the Titans were victorious over the Jaguars and Joyce and I each lost at least 10 lbs of water weight - GRIN!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Well, today I composed a long post about the stupid people I work with but then deleted - I wouldn't want to get into trouble for violating their rights. So I'm just ging to say - I work with stupid people, I work with Stupid People, I work with STUPID PEOPLE. I am talking about

Monday, September 1, 2008

Wow - today is my 53rd birthday - When did I get so...well...Mature?? My mind tells me I'm still in my 30's but my knees tell me that is not true. I awoke early today to a lovely morning. I enjoyed the cool Tennessee morning outside watching the dogs play in the backyard. Then, I got motivated to scoop. Yup, I spent the early hours of my birthday with my new x-large poop scooper cleaning up after our 8 dogs. Most are Cardigan Welsh Corgis, but sometimes I think an elephant or two sneaks into our yard to....ahem.... POOP! By the time I finished the heat and humidity had arrived. I knew it was time to go in when I felt that hot, itchy, prickly feeling on my back. I spent the rest of my day on the couch watching The Closer marathon (don't you just love Kyra Sedgwick) and HGTV Summer Showdown. Well, I tried to watch but I did take a nap or two. A perfect day, with no stress, made even better because today is a holiday meaning I did not have to go to work! I want to Thank all the folks who sent me Birthday wishes, called or came by. and to my husband, who took me out for the scrumptious brunch yesterday.See Ya'll.......